Last Wednesday night as vendors set up their booths in the
Tucson Convention Center in preparation of the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show's official opening the next morning, a small crowd gathered with anticipation around the Collector’s Edge display.
The company had been operating two booths in other shows for the previous two weeks, so what was different that drew this crowd here among the unpacking going on around them?
“Deep Mine,” my guide to the high-rollers in the mineral-collecting world, explained that the owner of Collector’s Edge displays and sells pieces from his own mines, including a gold mine in Mariposa County in California. That night, he brought out five fantastic gold specimens of incredible delicacy, intricacy, and beauty.
Within ten minutes of being put on display, according to Deep Mine, all five pieces sold for about $700,000 each.
